The heat is at all-time highs in America’s Pacific Northwest, and has been for weeks; cold foods bring relief! After our second hottest day on record, ever, at 106F, I decided the first chance we could get out to shop, that I would get supplies for better popsicles.

We had tried some natural, fruit-only popsicles but they were expensive and I felt I wanted to explore making a better recipe — one that had some more nutrition as especially seniors and children don’t want to eat (and, often, drink enough) during hot spells.

So, I found this Redbook recipe and will start adapting it. I’ll give some of the original, with a few of my anticipated changes. When I’ve made them, I’ll rewrite or add in the final recipe.

We’ve got relatives coming into town for a family wedding this week, so don’t be surpised if next week’s post is pretty simple, maybe only a place-holder or an article written in stages. We’ll see how it goes. But, it will still be hot when everyone arrives (even if it is not sweltering), and, as some have flown in from a wintery Australia, I’m sure the relief from the popsicles will be appreciated. I hope you will try these, too.

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Northwest Creamy Berry Popsicles

2 1/2C fresh berries (we have blueberries in the garden now, and raspberries in June)

___ The coconut’s healthy medium-chain essential fatty acids will slow down the metabolism or the carb “hit” from the fruit.

___ I’ve reduced the Glycemic Load by also including the fiber from whole fruits and also by using the protein source (milk or soy yoghurt).

___ The agave really helps to decrease the Glycemic Index from what usual popsicles have, and it provides plenty of natural, low-glycemic flavor. Do not use artificial sweeteners.

___ The berries are a high anti-oxidant fruit to combat cellular damage, and they are usually pH alkaline foods. The lemon adds extra in both these areas and provides a little counter-balance if everything is extra-sweet tasting.

I hope you will experiment with your own recipes, too.

If you want to read more of my archive — along with the articles, there are other recipes — then, use the Titles Tab on the upper Navigation Bar.

I always appreciate real feedback that contributes to the conversation.

For all of us, I’m always looking for farms, producers and vendors that still make real, healthy food and I’m always looking for easy ways for you to have better, healthier food on a budget. So, this post has information that will really help you!

For those of you who still use dairy, then check out Straus Family Creamery and especially pay attention to the temperatures and longer, gentler process used for pasteurization than is currently being used by other dairies, including organic dairies. Also note Straus’ use of glass bottles and ecologically responsible energy recycling of their cow’s methane production.

Now, on a different topic — as I’ve stated before, veggies have plenty of protein in a form that is surrounded by minerals, vitamins and alkaline pH and enzymes we desperately need. The largest animals on earth are all vegetarians. Great success has happened for diabetics when they increase the amount of high caliber, low-glycemic index, raw, plant foods. Learn how to do that by using my suggestions below, regardless of season, and by eating less animal-based protein, you will help detoxify yourself, aid the Earth and use the greens’ B vitamins as potent stress relievers.

Mesclun is a traditional mix of salad greens, available from the wild or the garden, and now different kinds of leaf and loose-headed lettuce, mustards, cresses, purslane and parsleys are often included. Originating in Provence, France, the traditional recipe requires chervil, arugula, lettuce and endive in precise proportions.

In the 1970’s, an American, Joy Larkom, visited Italy and was intrigued by the magnificent salad mixes called Misticanza as well as by the French mesclun mixes. She came home and started to mix her own, and “Saladini” was born.

The purpose was to make a nutritious salad that includes every taste and texture sensation: bitter, sweet, tangy, crunchy and silky. Mesclun’s and Misticanza’s beautiful colors and forms are a treat for the eye as well as the tongue, with its mix of textures, but the main reason I am suggesting it is to get more power-house raw food into YOU!

You’ll find other mesclun and salad mix choices and seeds to use for sprouts at Thompson & Morgan and Cooks Garden; see links in Reference section, below.

Mesclun and other salad-greens mixes have far more nutritive value than just plain lettuces, even power-packed romaine. Safeway and Costco offer large tubs of organic mesclun “Spring Mix” for less money, but many people do not have access to these stores. So growing your own is a good solution, as it is easy!

I have a carton of Saladini that I just unpacked, years after our last move. I am going to see if any of the veggie seeds are still viable. I should know in about 30 days. It can’t hurt to try, as seeds are often viable for many years (even beyond the stated date). This mix was made by White Swan, 8030 S.W. Nimbus, Beaverton, OR 97008. Phone: 1-800-233-7926. They are known for their easy-sow mats of wildflower mixes, too.

The baby plants are meant to grow close together and be harvested gently, with scissors, at 3″ – 4″ high and leaving at least 1″ of the plant above the soil. If these instructions are followed, then the plants can regenerate and provide you with additional harvests.

They can be grown indoors or out, and in containers or garden beds.

The plants are a combination of flavors: spicy, sharp and naturally-sweet predominate. There are seasonal blends, as you saw in Territorial’s offerings, above.

If you order from Territorial, be sure to also get New Zealand spinach, which is of a different botanical family than most veggies, is very nutritious, mild-flavored and it stands summer heat (unlike many greens). Unfortunately, NZ spinach has disappeared from most American markets in the past decades (that’s a real loss). Now, you can grow your own! See Territorial Seed’s New Zealand spinach.

If you desire to use my article or quote more than just a couple of sentences, please get my permission by writing to me at the About Me tab, above. And, be sure to include my copyright citation and website address in your footnotes or reference section. Thanks!

Here’s a relatively fast summer meal which is traditional among the Hmong tribes people of Vietnam and nearby areas. I have limited the amount of noodles per portion, as they are high in carbs. I have also given you alternative noodle choices. This is NEVER made with wheat noodles.
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In a bowl soak noodles in hot water to cover, for 15 minutes to soften. While noodles are soaking, bring 6 quarts salted water to boil. Drain noodles in colander and cook in boiling water 45 seconds, or until just tender.

Em: Don’t waste the 6 qts of water! So, use the water for soup stock or more noodle cooking, later, by draining noodles into an empty soup pot. Rinse the noodles under more cold water to stop cooking. Drain again and with scissors cut into 4-inch lengths.

The Salad:
1 English cucumber, halved, seeded, cut in 2-inch long sections, then into julienne strips
4 scallions, cut first into 2″ long sections, then into julienne strips
1 red pepper, cut, seeded, then into 2″ long julienne strips
1 cup Asian white radish (“daikon”), sliced into thin julienne strips
a little mesclun salad mix or some romaine or kale – bite-sized

1 cup fresh mint sprigs
1/2 cup cilantro sprigs
1 cup Thai basil leaves (sprigs)
2 Tbsp chopped peanutsEm: or other nuts – do not use peanuts or nuts if you are food-sensitive to them! Peanuts are not recommended as most have aflatoxin mold on them.

Cooking Instructions:

Shell and devein shrimp, dry between paper towels.
Heat the oil in the pan, stir fry the garlic and onion 1 minute, add the shrimp, pepper, and the sauce. Cook for about 2-4 minutes or until the shrimp are just cooked. Halve the shrimp, lengthwise.

Em: If using cooked shrimp or prawns, just heat to re-warm, briefly. Take from heat and cool. Halve shrimp lengthwise.

Plating the finale:
In large individual bowls, layer in the mesclun, romaine or kale. Combine the noodles, other salad ingredients (except herbs) and add a little dressing. Toss, then top with shrimp with its own dressing and then nuts. Serve the fresh herbs on the side. Let each diner tear mint, cilantro and basil leaves onto the top of their salads. Add more dressing, if needed.

Roughly slice the chili and garlic and then put in a mortar, along with the sweetener. Pound into a paste and transfer to a bowl. If you do not have a mortar, finely mince the chili and garlic before adding to the sweetener. Add the other ingredients (except the carrots) and stir well. Add the shredded carrots. Let the sauce stand for at least 10 minutes for the flavors to fully develop.

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Use salads as the basis for all your summer meals beyond breakfasts. This is the time when fresh, raw produce is at its cheapest, or you can start harvesting your garden plot or container garden.

Fresh veggies are the powerhouse foods of the human diet. They provide plenty of protein, all on their own — just think, the largest mammals on Earth are only vegetarians! Whales, elephants, mountain gorillas and giraffes all grow massive, healthy bodies just from plant foods — so don’t be afraid about not getting “enough” when most or all of your diet is oriented to plant foods.

Fresh raw veggies are not just good protein sources — they are filled with enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fiber (fuel for your friendly bacteria in your gut which manufacture vital substances for you) as well as being a broom to clean intestinal walls (letting you absorb your nutrients better and clean out unsavory left-overs). And, even when well-washed, the friendly bacteria we need hitch-hike onboard to carry them to our small intestine.

Some fresh veggies are more power-packed or useful than others, too. This is another reason this salad is SO healthy, as it contains some magnificent choices!

___ Use mesclun or dark green leafy vegetables, like romaine lettuce and kale, as the salad basis. Lots of B vitamins to combat stress here.

___ The following foods have very high ORAC values — that is a measurement of their anti-oxidant activity. In random order, high ORAC foods in this recipe are: limes, garlic, onions, red pepper, mint, cilantro, basil and holy basil.

___ Fresh garlic is an anti-viral.

___ Limes and red pepper supply lots of Vitamin C and important anti-oxidant and immune system booster.

___ Cucumber is an excellent pH alkalizing food. Everyday, you want to help your body be just slightly alkaline pH and most “western” foods make you “acidic” pH.

___ Onions and garlic provide important sulfur to make some of your most protective anti-oxidants and are liver protective. All those diabetic and cholesterol-lowering meds assault your liver.

___ If you choose the healthiest nuts (or seeds), you will add to your valuable Omega-3 reservoir. I recommend almonds or macadamia nuts for this salad or Nutiva organic hemp seed. Omega-3 essential fatty acids are needed everyday, and as I never recommend farmed salmon, and wild-caught fish are an expensive food (even during the summer season runs), these vegetarian, heart-protective sources are important.

___ These are all low glycemic foods, so they are protective against raising insulin too much. Insulin spikes need to be avoided.

___ This is also an easy meal to take with you for lunch at work. Bring the dressing separately and put it on right before eating.

___ And, meals like this are a chance for you to set a good example for your children. Vietnamese children eat this just fine; there’s NO reason why western children have to be fed high carb foods which lead them to pre-diabetes. Forego the mac and cheese; pastas, hot dogs, poorly-made pizzas and sugary foods, please!

OK, go off to the market, and make this salad this week-end. I am.

Best to all — Em

P.S. You can read more of my archive at the Archive Tab on the upper navigation bar.

Well, thanks to Providence, we are all here and OK after fire hit our row of arborvitae trees. More about this and why it should concern you, for July 4th, Guy Fawkes and EVERYDAY, follows, as a cautionary tale!

Life’s little adventures are meant to be shared so we all profit from the lessons learned. I appreciate being here today to relate my lessons and warnings, for sure! There was no guarantee that we would have the wonderful outcome that saw us through this adversity. Luckily, when this happened, it was daylight.

The word I want you to get in time for tomorrow, and every fireworks night after this is the following:

1) ___ supervise your children and use good judgment, yourself! This is the third neighborhood fire I have had in in 40 years which involved people sending off illegal rockets. The first nearly totaled a home about 6 away from us about 33 years ago. Next, was about 4 years ago, when it hit our back-yard neighbor (whose home was really close!). We were out of town, and couldn’t have saved anything, if it had jumped to our home. Then within last week, it finally came to our home.

2) ___ Our neighbor, Tom, saw the fire as he left for work, and it was only about 1 foot high, in the arborvitae needles, and a garden hose could no longer put it out, once he had told his wife to call 911 and get a nearby garden hose to return to use!

The whole row of trees shot flames into the air that were more than 20 feet tall, and flames raced the length of the planting, straight to our closest point, in less than 4 minutes. The first engine took 10 minutes from Carol’s first call to get there and then the firemen were amazing at how fast they got hoses off the truck, connected and started to hose the fire, but by then, the cedar roof of Tom’s garage was well involved.

3) ___ I had called in a second emergency when the roof ignited, for I knew that it could be a sustained source for fire, and at the widest, our homes are only about 12 feet apart. The first engine had not yet arrived, and I could see our home going next and Tom’s other neighbor (who also has a cedar roof) would follow fast! In the end, they sent about 7 fire engines and a paramedic crew, but people with fires on July 4th will be lucky if anyone arrives in time, as crews will be spread thin! So, you likely WILL have to defend your own home.

As the fire raced down the line of trees, it came within 7 feet of our home; burned all the siding over 3 stories and it sent toxic gases and soot all around.

The heat of the fire also impacted the area of the main electric panel (see tagged photo above) and main gas line so there will be lots to check out when the walls are opened up more.

Within less than an hour, more crews were out — utilities, damage-control, investigators, inspectors. There’s been a solid line of visits, for days, even without the insurance adjusters from all the companies etc etc.

4) ___ The fire investigators come over FAST, for their initial inspection and come again later! Tom, another neighbor, said he had heard fireworks many times the previous night, and all we can guess is that an ember from one of their careless and illegal rockets landed in the duff; proceeded over hours to grow, and finally reached true flash-point among a row of trees which are naturally laden with copious amounts of resin.

The fire inspectors noted that the heat of the fire came our way, due to the winds, but that did not stop one or more sparks making it ‘against the wind’ to ignite Tom’s quickly-flammable wood roof.

Arborvitae’s resin is like natural gasoline, and even though the line of trees was being constantly watered, and leaves were green, these plants are dangerous, and should not be sold. If you have arborvitae in your yard, remove them, as we are doing for the row on one other property line!

5) ___ Our roof is fire-resistant composite tile (not as good as the slate-style concrete tile of the home we built and lived in, for 20 years, to protect us from Mt. St. Helen’s eruption ignition); but, this time, the thinner tile bought us enough time that the fire department were there before our roof took off. Even fire-resistant roofs will ignite, if enough time and or temperature. If you have a wood roof, make sure you wet it down well for July 4th and when its time to replace it, consider something more fire-resistant. And, check everything on your property before you go to sleep.

6) ___ When Tom came to tell us there was a fire, which he could not put out, Rob dashed to see what was going on and ran back to tell me to get my Mum and I out of the house, immediately! We had one minute to start to leave and 2 minutes to accomplish it, if that! We only did it OK in that time because I got my Mum started downstairs, at her best-pace, (she’s handicapped), while I took the moment to grab her always-packed bag of meds and my photos which are set-up as an escape album (it’s a careful variety of our memories).

Mum went out to the front porch to sit, where the firemen could pick her up fast, if she needed to be further away from the house. She sat there for about 2 1/2 hours, with her meds and our most-precious memories at her side, until we had an all-clear, after all of Tom’s roof was removed; and the remaining structure was sprayed with fire retardent foam.

The inspectors told us how to watch for any flare-ups (which had happened many hours later in the first neighborhood fire I told you about, above). And, they sent a fireman with a heat-sensing infra-red gun in to search all the interior walls near the fire, from inside our home. That machine is SO sensitive, it even picks up your footprints, even when you are wearing shoes. There’s still enough “heat” coming through your soles! If he’d “said” that, I’d have wondered, but I saw our footprints on his screen!

So, we felt comfortable that our walls had nearly been breeched but were safe. We watched for re-emergence of embers, but they had hosed the area well to try to protect us from that eventuality.

7) So, to coalesce all this — DO the following:

___ Wet down your roof and all your garden plants and tree foliage well, in time for July 4th., even starting today and keeping it up until the day after the fireworks (after all, “our” ember incubated overnight!). Preferably stay home; you’ll be the one who defends your home that night!

___ Have a satchel or back-pack with a week’s current doses of your meds always packed and ready to grab. Use them last, and replace with each new batch of prescriptions. Keep your meter etc. there too, or have a second one packed. Include shelf-stable snacks in there, too, as you won’t be able to easily find food or water during the chaos of the emergency.

___ Have a quick-grab satchel of your valuables — in my case, I chose photos and camera photo cards. I left all other valuables, but have them documented in an inventory — written and photo — to leave in your safe-deposit box! If you haven’t done this, DO IT NOW!

___ Make sure your smoke-detectors work and that you have them in each bedroom, halls and kitchen, as well as garage. It’s always recommended to sleep with bedroom doors closed. Preferably have both kinds of detectors. Most units only detect one kind of fire, but you need both kinds. As I am hearing-impaired, I also have a special strobe-light smoke-detector (which requires an electrician), but it would have saved me. Have both battery operated and in house-electrical units.

Many home-improvement centers only carry one type of sensing unit — I can’t remember if it’s the type that only senses smoke or the one that senses heat. There used to be dual units, and I’m hoping there still are (even though they are more expensive, you NEED both kinds, so why not in just one unit).

After all the TV crews left us, within days, in the state capital, another home went up after someone tossed a still-burning cigarette onto the wood porch — the single Mom inside never heard a smoke detector, and luckily her neighbors came to save her via the back door. She hadn’t realized her home was already fully engulfed. She must have had the wrong kind of smoke detector for the type of fire, I guess. That’s why you need both types of detector!

___ Another thing the firemen told us: get an envelope (preferably red — use Valentines Day left-overs!), and attach it to the window next to your front door or on the window of the door. On the side you see from the outside, write “For Fire Only!” Inside the envelope: put a diagram of your home’s floor plan and mark all rooms where people sleep and highlight and describe where babies and children sleep as well as handicapped people. Mark the room “handicapped person”, “baby”, “2 toddlers” etc.

He said they are trained to look for that envelope and it may make the difference between them finding your baby in the smoke or getting someone out with time enough to be able to survive smoke inhalation!

___ you should also have a family escape plan, which you practice with your children, and they need to be taught to feel their closed door, before ever opening it and know where to meet outside. If you have a multi-story dwelling, each bedroom needs its own fire-escape metal, collapsible ladder to hang out the window.

___ start looking online for lists of fire-resistant plants. FEMA and many local authorities have lists ready for your area. Take down the hazardous plants and replace them with better ones, but all plants require care — water and pruning to help keep you safe! The plants near our siding helped deflect the heat, and protected the walls, at the distances involved for us. I expect the plants will die, but I appreciate that they were well cared for; were safe types which “bought” us Time — the most valuable gift in a fire.

___ since our fire, we have been looking to see road edges, vacant lots, ill-cared for gardens or commercial property etc. in the journey between our home and our kid’s home, and we were amazed at how much the counties involved have not used their (short) staffs to cite these land owners. Call the owners out yourself. The emergency information says grass should be no more than 2 inches high, anywhere!

___ have a hose already on a tap ready-to-go on every side of your home. If Tom’s hose had been ready, he might have been able to douse it in time. Once he couldn’t, he should have used the hose to start wetting his roof, but I think he went inside to get his wife and her “stuff”. Everyone makes choices, but him wetting the roof would have protected us all better.

Anyway, I hope at least some of you will act on this! And, if you only see this after the holiday, then still DO these steps!

Best to all — Em

Please read more in my archive at the Titles Tab on the upper navigation bar.

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Why I Am So Passionate About This!

The prevention of type 2 diabetes, especially, is looming as one of the most pressing public health concerns of the 21st century ... with ever-increasing numbers of teens and children being diagnosed ... with two-thirds of U.S. adults now overweight or obese and, therefore, seriously at-risk.
Type 2 diabetes is mostly preventable, through education and action. So, it is outrageous that the number of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is rising, world-wide, and the age they are stricken with it is falling!

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